Suzuki: The Man and His Dream to Teach the Children of the World

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year . “Moving and beautifully written.” —BBC Music Magazine   

“Hotta is an unobtrusive narrator whose personal anecdotes are like grace notes on the larger score of Suzuki’s life.” —Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal   

“Suzuki will take a deserved place as the definitive account of his life, and will be a valuable resource for scholars, teachers, and music students alike. Hotta’s writing strikes a perfect balance between scholarly precision and engaging narrative…Conjures a vibrant and moving portrait of both the man and his revolutionary vision.” —Andrew Braddock, The Strad 

“This well-researched, conceived, and executed book seems to be the first objective account of the man and his life. It is a revelation on many levels…[Suzuki] is about optimism, gentleness, doggedness, belief in children, humanity, and the affirmative properties of art in the face of violence and ignorance.” —David Mehegan, Arts Fuse  

The name Shinichi Suzuki is synonymous with early childhood musical education. By the time of his death in 1998, countless children around the world had been taught using his methods, with many more to follow. Yet Suzuki’s life and the evolution of his educational vision remain largely unexplored. A committed humanist, he was less interested in musical genius than in imparting to young people the skills and confidence to learn. 

Eri Hotta details Suzuki’s unconventional musical development and the emergence of his philosophy, showing that his aim was never to turn out disciplined prodigies but rather to create a world where all children have the chance to develop, musically and otherwise. Undergirding his pedagogy was an unflagging belief that talent, far from being an inborn quality, is cultivated through education. Moreover, Suzuki’s approach debunked myths of musical nationalism in the West, where many doubted that Asian performers could communicate the spirit of classical music rooted in Europe. 

Suzuki offers not only a fresh perspective on early childhood education but also a gateway to the fraught history of musical border-drawing and to the makings of a globally influential life in Japan’s tumultuous twentieth century.